It's been two weeks since I posted my personal art journey through the past year. It's because the last two weeks has been spent through numerous ventures like trying out a blockchain game, exploring a new BCH project, and being lazy in general. But now that we're here, let me continue from the last episode where I explored acrylics and had some fun with it.

These people are really inspiring and pushing me to
get out of my lazy zone! Thanks guys! 

Not an entirely new medium, but a type of brush!

While searching through different kinds of brushes that can be used for acrylics online last November, there are filberts, rounds, liner, flat, fan, and many others that offer a unique type of brushstrokes depending on the project that you are working on. But there's something that caught my attention which is the airbrush.

It allows the release of paint with the help of compressed air from a compressor, and the airbrush itself is the metallic instrument that has a small cup in it to store paint. Mine is a dual-action airbrush which allows you to control the amount of air and paint by pushing and pulling the trigger. I bought mine during January when I used my funds from the allowances and side hustles from school. It's a pretty expensive brush I would say, but it's worth it!

I used my acrylic paints instead of buying ones that are thinned down for airbrushing. I got an airbrush medium that will allow thick acrylics to get through the tiny nozzle of the airbrush. Also, I got a masking fluid to hide out important places where paint is not desired to be. Then there are tiny containers that store paint which allow you to dispense droplets. I used to store my paints here dedicated for airbrushing.

With a little bit of research, I did find out that there are stencils used to create intricate designs from airbrushing. These are really useful because it can be otherwise time-consuming and will take more effort to produce patterns by painting them manually.

Inspiration from Home

I am still in awe looking at our walls in the living room because it feels regal and something out from a royal castle. It gives a welcoming atmosphere that makes you feel special. It makes me want to go into a palace or hotel that has similar ambiance. My mom said that the carpenter used a large airbrush and compressor dedicated for home use and a wall stencil during the painting process. This then inspired me to try using it in my future works.

Taking it to the Test

After having all the things that I needed, it's time to make the use out of it. What makes airbrush special is how it creates smooth backgrounds and gradients, along with the use of stencils while saving a lot of time. Most importantly, it allows me to create out-of-focus background or the bokeh effect seamlessly.

My first attempt involved the subject of having rainy nights. It's because this scene reminded me of going back home from school during night classes, seeing lights from the bus while raining. It feels nostalgic to remember that time.

The first thing that I did was to gesso a spare watercolor paper to prevent it from warping and absorbing water from the acrylics. Then I painted the background a solid black as a base layer. I used the circular template while switching into different colors to create random circles for the bokeh look.

I am glad that it was working well and liked the appearance of bokeh circles. However, I was not satisfied with the colors because they look dull. The yellows look like neon and the blues went too dark. It's a good thing airbrushing is just as forgiving as acrylics and I painted over those areas. I wanted it to look more similar and have some glow similar to what we see from lights at night blurred from camera (I often see this look from movies or television series.)

After several attempts and multiple layers, I was able to achieve this final result. I didn't imagine that I will be able to accomplish this to be honest but I just kept going until it looks good. Then I manually added the rain droplets in to get that rainy night atmosphere. This was also posted before in noise months ago: https://noise.cash/post/162607xv

Important Learnings

Airbrushing is an easy tool to get used to, especially if you will use it for out of-focus backgrounds, stenciled patterns or getting a smooth look without the brushstrokes from traditional brushes. It also allows you to speed up your work because of this and create beautiful results. I will also try it with other mediums like watercolor or colored pencils to create specialized effects. Colored pencil is a pretty slow medium to work with, and using airbrush for the background helps a lot.

This drawing was done months ago and I tried using airbrush for the background and colored pencils for the Pokemon, Kingdra. It allowed to get it done faster with great results. I am looking forward to do more works like this. And currently I am still working on a painting that I didn't touch for 2 weeks LOL.

Thanks for reading and I hope that you enjoyed it! See you in the upcoming parts!

For my recent works, try to navigate through the previous parts here:

Part 1: It's Never Too Late to Learn Something New (Start of Journey)

Part 2: I Was Encouraged to Just Keep Going (Colored Pencils and Inktober)

Part 3: Taking the Next Step, While Dealing with Memories and Loss(Acrylics)

Part 4: Spreading Colors Through Spray and Aerosol

[#16] Published, September 9, 2021